Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: All-time goals & stats comparison

Both players have gone toe to toe with each other throughout their careers.

As far as football players go, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the greatest to have ever stepped on the field. Throughout their two-decade careers, both men have been outstanding goal scorers and have developed a variety of strategies to put the ball in the back of the net.

Although this is the most difficult ability in the beautiful game, the talented duo have made it appear simple throughout the years, occasionally scoring goals just for enjoyment. Messi and Ronaldo can threaten rival teams with set-piece goals, headers, and well-placed strikes from their weak foot. They are effective in nearly any circumstance.

During their tenure in Europe, they effortlessly made football look simple by scoring over 30 goals a season, winning the Golden Boot, and constantly vying for individual accolades. During their dominating era, it was difficult to foresee any other players beating them for any individual title.

Scoring goals became bread and butter for them. They never showed any sign of slowing down even after reaching their 30s and kept proving to us that, with enough dedication, you can achieve excellence in your career.

In this article, we take a look at their career goals and how many goals they have scored for their clubs in the past and present.

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: All-time career goals and statistics

Since Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time leading goalscorer, while Messi is the second-highest top scorer, the former Barcelona star can still finish first given he is two years younger than Ronaldo if he continues playing for more years.

Still, Ronaldo deserves all the plaudits since when the 39-year-old decides to put up his boots, he will surely have scored well over 950 goals for both club and country.

It’s fascinating to see that Lionel Messi is the more reliable goal scorer even if he has fewer overall career goals. The Inter Miami star is slightly superior to Ronaldo’s 0.73 ratio with an average of 0.78 goals per game.

When you consider the roles that both men have played in their illustrious careers, this becomes even more astounding. Although Cristiano Ronaldo was a skilled winger in his earlier years after that CR7 has spent almost the last ten years playing as a centre-forward.

But Messi has never been the same player in terms of pure striking ability. During his career, Messi has mainly played as a winger on right-wing or as an attacking midfielder behind the striker. He has very seldom operated as an out-and-out striker in his career.

Club/Nation	Cristiano Ronaldo	Club/Nation	Lionel Messi
Sporting CP	5	Barcelona	672
Manchester United	145	Paris Saint-Germain	32
Real Madrid	450	Inter Miami	34
Juventus	101	Argentina	112
Al-Nassr	80	–
Portugal	135	–
Total	916	Total	850

Both are now in the twilight of their career. When they decide to finally call their retirements, it will be the saddest part in sporting history. The joy they have provided the fans all over the world is priceless. However, for now, we must enjoy seeing them play football and cherish their twilight career, as long as it lasts.

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